Rachel Stribling Makes a Splash at East St. Louis High School

Last year, Stribling spent three and a half weeks introducing tennis during PE to every student at Lincoln Middle School in the East St. Louis School District. On the final day of school while Stribling was cleaning up the gym, the assistant athletic director informed Stribling East St. Louis High School was in need of a girls’ tennis coach.

Stribling — who thought she was done making the long trek from her home across the river to East St. Louis — agreed to fulfill the role. She replaced Bernard King, who Stribling said has been a tremendous resource and mentor for her.

“You know how they say you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans,” Stribling said.

In addition to practicing on the three tennis courts at Lincoln Park, the Flyers competed in six matches plus the postseason in the fall. Stribling had 10 girls compete in a match and while that number dwindled toward the end of the season, she’s excited for the future of her program.

“Just the awareness of tennis is huge,” Stribling said. “When they first started, I had to stop them from wrestling and stuff. Not just playing, little girly stuff — no, it was serious. I just see such a change in their character and everything. It’s so hard because you get to a place; you have the girls who come. And then they can’t come because now they’ve got to babysit or work. That’s the hard part.”

Despite the obstacles, Stribling is building a culture by having her players remain active in the offseason. The team hits indoors three times a week at St Clair Tennis Center and supplements that with two days of conditioning. After practice concludes, Stribling and the players do team-building activities such as eating out together, going to a dollar store or hanging out at the mall.

To drum up interest for the program, Stribling said she walks up and down the halls of East St. Louis High School hollering “Girls’ tennis! Tennis, anyone?” She also visits homerooms to talk up the team.

She credited USTA St. Louis for its support, as the district shipped Stribling a big bag of junior tennis racquets. That helped supplement the used adult tennis racquets the East St. Louis Community Tennis Association donated to the program. The East St. Louis CTA also sponsored members of the Flyers’ team to enable them to participate in a Junior Team Tennis tournament at St Clair.

Her current big project is helping ensure the reconstruction of four dilapidated tennis courts located on the high school’s campus. Stribling attends monthly school board meetings to make sure progress is happening, and she said the architectural plans for the courts were approved at the most recent meeting.

“When we get tennis courts, they’ll see,” Stribling said. “Build it, and they will come.”

With the aid of USTA St. Louis and USTA Missouri Valley grants Stribling had the opportunity to participate in a diversity training event at the USTA National Campus in Orlando this past November, which she called a “very cool” experience. Stribling — along with six members of her East St. Louis girls’ team — attended the USTA St. Louis awards celebration dinner that same month as well.

While she grew up running track and playing softball, Stribling fell in love with tennis when she began routinely playing later in life. While she was still living in California, Stribling hit several times a week and entered tournaments multiple times a month. A couple years after she arrived in St. Louis Stribling again picked up the sport, frequently hitting with Roger Horton and Pat Purcell.

She improved from a USTA 3.0-level player to 4.5 and has traveled to Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to compete in tournaments. Stribling has participated in the MID-TAC Tournament in Indianapolis and ATA National Championships in Florida most of the last quarter-century.

“All of my life, I got trophies,” Stribling said. “I win a lot, but I’m not a great tennis player. After a while you get to thinking. You have all these trophies, but what does that mean? What are you leaving? What are you doing? I just kind of started focusing on others. And now — with this tennis team — it’s almost like that’s what I do.”